PTI files contempt plea in PHC against ECP

Chief election commissioner, secretary ECP and others made respondents

PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a contempt plea in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday.

The plea by the party comes after ECP's delay in issuing the party certificate. 

The party has made the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, secretary election commission, and members of the ECP respondents in the petition, which comes a day after the high court returned the electoral symbol of 'bat' to PTI and nullified the electoral watchdog's earlier decision. 

The petition stated that "this action by the ECP is considered contempt of court, hindering PTI's regular electoral process, as evident from the court's explicit instructions".

Read Election tribunals clear key PTI candidates

Yesterday the PHC declared “illegal” the ECP's decision to revoke the PTI’s ‘bat’ electoral symbol and reject its intra-party polls.

In the short order, the PHC said that the ECP order was “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”. The court also instructed the ECP to publish the certificate submitted by PTI after its internal polls on the commission's website.

Moreover, it affirmed PTI's entitlement to the election symbol under sections 215 and 217, along with other applicable provisions of the Election Act, 2017, and Election Rules, 2017.